The Reviewer
by thegirlofmanymoods
Summary: AU. Finally, after all these years, she had an opportunity to back at him. Finally, she had an opportunity to get revenge, to get retribution. Finally, it was time for some payback.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone! I got an idea for a fic a while ago and after allowing the idea to swirl around in my head for a while, I decided to post it. Hope you all enjoy it.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. **

**Betas: Savari and NaminexSora lover**

* * *

Sakura Haruno was not a popular person in high school.

In fact, she was one of those nerds that were never noticed by the popular crowds, and only managed to make it through the tough period by cherishing the fact that in a few years, she would leave this juvenile playground and enter the real world, a place where it was brains that made you on top and it didn't matter if you were part of the popular crowd in your teenage years.

Man, was she disappointed when she found out that real life was exactly like high school.

People were still able to live off of their parent's money. You could still buy success. Beauty could still get you places, even if you had the IQ of margarine. And bullying still existed: the only difference was that instead of getting pushed into lockers, your job would get taken away.

She had seen it happen before. Kevin, a friend of hers from high school, had a career in the real estate world. He was smart, listened to his client's desires, and was extremely good at bringing in money for the business that employed him. But the second a man named Dante came and applied for a job, Kevin was let go without a second thought. Why? Because, although Kevin was good at his job, he was still scrawny and pasty enough to be a ghost, while Dante was well muscled, tanned and had super model good looks.

Sakura was nearly devastated when she found out that people could still treat others like crap and goof off all the time, and still be able to get far in life. Her only comfort came when she learned that one of the girls that used to pick on the 'lesser beings' in the school, was currently working in a liquor store. That discovery brought a smile to her face for the remainder of the month.

Well, in all honestly she probably had two comforts. The fact that one of the popular, brainless twits from high school was now getting near minimum wage selling cheap beer, and the fact that she herself had achieved success.

The pinkette had come from a poor family. Her parents could barely afford the necessities and if it wasn't for her babysitting money, she wouldn't have gotten any new clothes after junior high (not that she could afford many new items anyway). Fortunately for Sakura, she was a genius. And because of her intellect, she was able to attend the most prestigious private school of Konoha, instead of going to the lesser known public school.

Many people would consider that to be a fantastic thing. But not Sakura. Instead of having many cliques like most high schools, Konoha Academy only had two. The people whose parents were rich enough to afford the tuition fees, and the people who, like Sakura, could only attend because they were smart enough to pass the entry test that the school gave out for people who could not afford to pay their way in. Those who could pass the test were given a huge discount of the fees, and would be able to keep that discount as long as they were able to maintain high marks throughout their time at the school. Lucky them.

The academy was obviously controlled by the first group. And they made it their mission to make life hell for the other group. On the plus side, if you were in the second group and you survived Konoha Academy, you could survive anywhere. Unfortunately, that was the only positive thing you could say about it.

In a way, the rich group of the academy were a lot like any other group of popular kids. Except for the fact that their parents were filthy rich. And with money comes power and influence. They could do whatever they wanted to the NG (nerdy group), whether it was forcing them to supply answers to tests (even if it was during the tests), 'roughing them up' in the halls, throwing things at them or simply publicly humiliating them by locking them in the opposite sexes' bathroom, or dumping their trash on them. And they could do all of these things in front of the principle and not have to worry about receiving any punishment.

The only teacher who had ever tried to stop them was a small female teacher named Ms. Aby. She had the audacity to give one of the rich kids detention for pushing a member of the NG into a locker. The next day, she was fired for having an alleged affair with a student.

Sakura was fortunate enough to not be entirely scrawny looking, not need glasses, and not be cursed with braces. So her looks did not scream 'make fun of me'. And she was able to strike a deal with Ino, one of the few rich kids that could actually be considered nice. The pinkette tutored the blond after school and in turn, Ino made sure that the rest of the popular clique would leave her be. So, Sakura was blessed with only being shunned and ignored throughout her high school existence, instead of having to worry about being mocked and abused every day.

The female had a special knack for rating and reviewing things. Whether it be restaurants, songs, clothing stores or books. Her friends would always ask her for her opinion on everything from stores in the mall to celebrities. So after high school, she decided to become a mystery shopper. She took the training required to become a gold shopper and started working.

At first things were slow. For the first few years it was difficult to pay the bills, and she had to do without having a lot of luxuries. But after she began to gain more experience, things became easier. Instead of looking around for ads that required her services, businesses would request her directly to review their services.

After she gained enough money to have a large savings account, she decided to take a risk and become a professional critic. She would write reviews of businesses that she visited and books she read, and sell them to newspapers and other media. Someone even published a book filled with all of her reviews. And it actually managed to sell quite well.

Her life was pretty good. Sakura made her own hours, chose the stores that she wanted to critique, and was beginning to become quite wealthy. The best part was that no one who read the reviews knew who she was.

Sakura never put her name on her work. Instead, she used the alias _The Reviewer_. And under that pseudonym, she became one of the best known critics in the world.

Being anonymous was probably the best move the self employed reviewer could make. She knew how businesses would bribe, or sometimes blackmail, critics into giving them a good review. There had been a story a while back about a business tycoon that had a critic get beaten up and had his house burnt down because he wouldn't give the business a good review. The pinkette didn't need to worry about that.

Unfortunately for her it was becoming more and more difficult to stay unknown. Her reviews could make or break a company. She could make a small business become famous, or cause a huge corporation to come crashing down. And because of this, big time businesses were spending huge amounts of money to find out her identity. They would question every media source that she gave a review to, and hunt through every critique she gave with a fine tooth comb, looking for any clue to her identity.

But Sakura made sure that her identity was kept a secret. She would use her nickname whenever she gave a review to a publisher, and never allowed her real name to escape to any of them. The pinkette never told anyone about what store she was going to review next. In fact, barely anyone actually knew what her real job was. Most people that knew her simply assumed that she worked in some sort of clinic. The pinkette didn't like the fact that she had to make most people believe a lie, but if she wanted to remain anonymous in her reviewing, she didn't really have a choice.

A small hand grasped a small coffee cup and lifted it up to meet soft lips. After allowing some of the fluid to flow past her mouth down into her throat, Sakura placed the cup back down on the small table. She was currently seated alone in a small cafe in uptown Konoha. Although the pinkette was inside of the small business, the intense summer heat caused the employees of the establishment to open the windows, allowing all the sounds of the outdoors to filter into the cafe. Cars were whizzing by on the roads, people were happily walking along the sidewalk, and the occasional bird flew by in the sky.

Sakura, however, was not paying attention to any of these things. She was completely focused on her notebook. It was small and black, probably only worth a few dollars. But to the pink haired woman, it was worth so much more than that. It was where she kept most of her information about her reviews.

Despite being a genius in school, the female was not that good with computers. Well, that wasn't exactly true. Sure, she wasn't great with them, but that was probably just because she used the devises as little as possible. The pinkette was too paranoid about someone finding out her identity by tracing her computer or email.

So instead of going 'high tech', Sakura kept track of her information the old fashioned way; with pen and paper. She kept a notebook for everything; from background information about companies, to old reviews, to the notes she took after visiting a business, which she used to write her critiques.

This particular notebook contained her schedule. It showed what places she was going to review and when she was going to do so. Considering the fact that no one aside from her knew exactly when she was going to review a business, it was one of her most valuable possessions.

Her emerald eyes were currently focused on a list of the next places she would be reviewing. There were a few minor companies, and one new business that was quickly gaining popularity. However, there was one other name on the list that stuck out to her. _Uchiha Electronics_.

It was one of the world's top electronic companies. At one point in time, it only had merchandise and it's products were sold in other stores. But then it began to have its own outlets, and after a while, the stores became a worldwide chain, and their high quality merchandise was only available in Uchiha stores.

The company had another feature that stuck out to Sakura. A feature that made her eyes narrow and her small mouth form into a frown. It was currently owned by Sasuke Uchiha.

The two had attended Konoha Academy together. However, the two were anything but friends. Because of his family's wealth, Sasuke was automatically placed into the first group. And obviously because of Sakura's brains and lack of riches, she was put into the NG.

Fortunately for Sakura, the two rarely interacted with each other. Sasuke had his place and she had hers. Despite this fact, she despised the dark haired male far more than almost any other of the rich kids.

In truth, the Uchiha really wasn't worse than any of the other people in his clique. In fact, in many ways he was better than a lot of them; he rarely mocked those who were 'below him,' and he had a tendency to keep to himself rather than join his group whenever they decided to gang up on an innocent nerd. He also had a reputation as a heart throb. Known for his well muscled physique and dark good looks, he unintentionally attracted more than half of the female population at the academy. Even Sakura had a small crush on him for a while.

Both her crush and her decent opinion of him quickly changed during the last few days of their senior year. The pinkette had been walking to her calculus class when she saw a group of people standing in the middle of the hall, all with shocked expressions. After walking closer to the scene, she discovered with horrified eyes the reason why everyone was flocking around the area.

Malcolm, one of her closest friends and current boyfriend, was lying down on the floor with Sasuke standing over him. It had been obvious that poor Malcolm had been beaten up. Considering that her boyfriend was part of the NG, that wasn't what was surprising everyone. The fact that Sasuke rarely fought with, or even acknowledged someone from the second group, wasn't what was shocking them either.

No, the reason why everyone looked horrified was because of the extent that the Uchiha had hurt him. Malcolm was unconscious and had blood pouring out of a broken nose. All of his visible skin was black and blue, and it looked like he had a few broken bones. Even the rich kids thought that Sasuke had taken it too far.

Sasuke didn't even look like he was finished yet. His eyes were still darkened and his fist was poised upwards in preparation to deliver another punch. But Sakura wasn't about to let him finish the action.

Without a second thought, she ran in front of her boyfriend, thereby protecting him from Sasuke's punch. "Hey, leave him alone!"

Sasuke immediately halted his action and lowered his arm back down to his side. His nigh deadly facial expression however, remained. "Move." He commanded.

"No." If the pinkette wasn't so focused on protecting Malcolm, she might have felt nervous about how everyone in the hall was now watching her.

Sasuke glared at her, but then finally relaxed his facial expression and appeared to be finished with his assault on the other boy.

As soon as Sakura was sure that Sasuke wasn't going to harm her boyfriend any further, she fled to Malcolm's side and picked him up slightly. He looked bad and she needed to get help soon. But before she called for the nurse, she glared at Sasuke. "I don't know how, and I don't know when, but someday you are seriously going to pay for this."

Sasuke snorted. "I doubt it."

* * *

Sakura's relationship with Malcolm ended shortly after that. But her hatred for Sasuke remained. And now she was going to review his company. _It seems like our roles have switched Sasuke_. She thought wickedly as a smile grew on her face. _I'm now the one with the power to make your life miserable. _

She shut the notebook, got up from her chair, and left the seating area. The smile remained on her face as she walked away from the table. _Payback's a bitch isn't it?_


	2. His life now

**Hey everyone! Here's the next chapter. Thanks for reading it, please review when you're finished.**

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha sat anxiously at his desk, his mind not at all on his work. It was on something else, or rather, someone else. He was thinking about The Reviewer. Who were they? That was the million dollar question, literally.

A good review from the mystery person could increase sales from a store by over 30%. A bad review could potentially reduce sales by 40%, or even make a business shut down entirely; it had done so before. So reviews from the Reviewer were extremely important, and could either allow a company to make thousands of dollars, or lose thousands of dollars. All based on one letter, written by someone no one knew of.

Uchiha Electronics was large and rich enough, so that even if it took a really bad hit from The Reviewer, they did not need to worry about closing down the company. However, a bad review could cost them huge amounts of money, which Sasuke would not stand for. Especially with him being an Uchiha, a family that only knew of successes.

So he decided to ask both other companies who had not been reviewed yet, and companies that had been given a bad review, to help him find the identity of the all-important Reviewer. He got the other businesses that had not been reviewed, to hire people to look for clues about The Reviewer, by reading through reviews and seeing if they could find anything that others had missed. They would also interview people who received the reviews from the mail, and ask them if there was anything that they could use to trace the person's identity.

The companies that received bad reviews sent video footage from their stores. The videos went from the day that the review was published, all the way back to two months prior to the former date. There were people that watched the footage day after day, trying to spot anyone that looked like they were taking notes, or for someone who appeared in all of the videos.

But so far, none of the vigorous searching produced any results. The Reviewer seemed to be untraceable. However, Sasuke was not one to give up. Once he committed himself to something, he would always follow through with it. He would find The Reviewer…eventually.

But for now, he had to focus on more mundane tasks. His eyes drifted to the stack of papers on his desk. He quite detested paperwork. It was so boring and seemed nearly never-ending. Plus, there were so many legal terms and details and whatnot, that it often seemed like it took five papers to say one small message. He was no environmentalist, but even he was kind of mad about the waste of trees.

He sighed, and ran a hand through his dark hair. Well, the longer he complained about it, the longer it would be until he was finished. So, he picked up his pen and a paper and began working.

Four hours later, he was finished (well, at least for the day). Before he left the building, he did what he had done every day for the past two months: stop into the room where people were trying to find out the identity of The Reviewer, and see if they had any results yet.

He gazed at the people working hard in the conference room, and asked the person closest to him. "Any progress yet?"

Shikamaru looked up at Sasuke and shook his head. "Nothing that we didn't know about yesterday. Except, that the last lead we had about the bald man that was in four of the stores two weeks before they got reviewed, is dead. This critic is one sneaky person."

During the first two weeks of the search, Sasuke got mad every time he heard that the team that was tracking The Reviewer, didn't get any results (which happened quite often), or that their leads were a dead end (which had happened with every lead that they had tried so far). But by now, he was only frustrated, and even that was waning. By now, hearing that they weren't any closer to finding the identity of the critic, was becoming a routine. Sasuke nodded at Shikamaru and left the conference room.

It was now his favorite time of the day: the time when he was finished with work. Although, he didn't feel the amount of relief that he usually felt. This was because tonight, he was attending a stupid high school reunion. He didn't see the point of it, especially since it hadn't been all that long since graduation. But, Naruto and a bunch of others, had nagged and annoyed him until he finally agreed.

So instead of actually doing something relaxing tonight, he had to go and spend an evening with a group of people that he, for the most part, didn't even like. Sure, there were a couple people from high school that he still talked to, but he already interacted with them on a regular basis, and therefore had no good reason to go the pointless reunion.

As he went into his black Phantom and pulled out of the parking lot, he tried to get himself to find something positive in the event. For a few minutes, nothing good came to mind. Then a thought entered his mind: Sakura might be there. That idea made him freeze for a moment, causing him to nearly run over a slow pedestrian.

After quickly regaining his composure, he cursed himself for even suggesting that to himself. She was just a high school crush. Well, that's what she was supposed to be. But that annoying girl had somehow stuck herself into his mind, and made him still like her after all these years, despite the fact that he hadn't seen her since high school.

It was a foolish thought. Sakura had hated Konoha High and would probably not even consider going to a reunion. Plus, the reunion was apparently only for the school's 'upper class', meaning the richer portion of the school, so Sakura wouldn't even be invited. Although Ino might encourage (or more likely, force) the pinkette to come. But Sakura was stubborn, and would likely say no. Besides, the girl still hated him for…that event.

It was almost funny to think that if wasn't for the fact that he had beaten up her boyfriend, he and Sakura might actually be friends now. Or maybe, even something closer. But even with that thought in mind, he still didn't regret what he had done. In fact, if he was transported back to that day now, he would have the exact same thing. Even with the knowledge that she would hate him after-wards.

His estate was located about ten minutes from the city. It was a nice enough place with a decent view, but it was a nuisance to have to drive nearly half an hour to and from work every day. However, he knew that there were those with far greater problems then himself, so he never complained about it (out loud anyways).

When he arrived at his humble abode, he parked among the other vehicles in the large garage. Out of every Uchiha Sasuke could think of, he was the only one who did not have his own driver. Considering that he could drive himself around just fine, he found it to be a pointless waste of money.

He walked into the home, nodding at some of the maids that greeted him. It was funny to think that even though he had the money for it, he never actually moved out until he was twenty. Usually, you only chose to live with your parents when you were an adult, if you were poor and could not afford to live on your own. But Sasuke had stayed with them because he saw no reason to move. He was comfortable and content there. Then his parents died. Murdered by his brother.

The bastard should have gone to prison. He was found guilty in court. But somehow, somewhere, in between going away from the courtroom and going to the jail cell, Itachi had managed to slip away and had never been seen since. There was a lot of speculations about the event; but Sasuke was sure that Itachi had gotten away because he had bribed the guards that were taking him to jail. Thus, proving that you could literally get away with murder when you're rich, even if the people you murdered were your own rich family.

Sasuke slipped into his closest and took out one of his many tuxedos. A simple black tie seemed appropriate enough for the night. He wondered for a moment if the others going to the reunion were stressing over their outfits. But he stopped after a moment, because the majority of them weren't really worth the time it took to think of them.

The reunion was going to be held at a hall in the north side of the city. As to be expected, it was quite expensive to rent the hall, even for a night. But, as per usual for the rich, that hardly mattered. In fact, many of the people attending the event preferred things that were expensive just to show how rich they were.

After putting on his suit and expertly doing his tie, Sasuke was ready for the reunion. Hopefully, it would be short.

Upon arriving at the hall, he was immediately offered a glass of champagne by a waiter. He gratuitously declined, for one of his few faults was that he could not hold his liquor well.

The hall was filled with people like himself, that were dressed from head to toe in the best and most expensive designer labels. That was partly because they were the only kind of clothes the people here ever bought. And partly because they, once again, wanted to show case their wealth. Sasuke was more for the former then the latter. After all, most people already knew how rich he was, he didn't need to remind them of it.

Many people came flocking towards him as soon as they saw him. If it wasn't for his above average memory, he wouldn't even remember most of them. In fact, there were a few that he didn't even remember going to school with. However, they all seemed to remember him well enough.

People took turns asking him about his life, his career, and whether he was currently in a relationship or not. His replies were long enough to not be considered rude or strange, but only just. The answers he provided seemed to satisfy them enough, but the fact that he did not currently have a significant other, seemed to make the some of the females he was talking to, perk up a great deal.

After a while, Sasuke grew bored of listening to the group ramble on about their own accomplishments, and excused himself from the group. Once he was released from the crowd, he used his new found freedom to study the reunion. There were more people that he recognized, but didn't want to talk to. He looked for a few moments and found the one who had forced him to come to this event, sitting at one of the tables near the back.

He walked up to the table and sat down. "Hello Sasuke." Naruto greeted. "Glad you could make it."

Sasuke openly glared at him. "You made me come, dobe."

"Well, yeah, but it is good of you to come." The blond replied, placing a glass of some alcoholic beverage up to his lips.

That made Sasuke raise a brow. "I thought you couldn't handle liquor well."

Naruto shrugged. "Better then you, bastard."

Sasuke's eyes opened widely. "You are not supposed to admit that in public."

Naruto laughed. "What? Scared that the fact that the great Uchiha has a weakness, will be released?" Sasuke glared at him.

The two continued to talk until Naruto received a call that his girlfriend, Hinata, had just returned from her trip, and left the reunion to go meet her, thereby leaving Sasuke to fend for himself.

He scanned the crowd once more, trying to spot someone that he could talk to without becoming immensely bored. At first glance, he couldn't find anyone, and was considering making up an excuse to head home early. But then he heard something. "How's your career going, Sakura?" Sasuke turned around and saw Sakura sitting with Ino. She was in a lavender dress that had a strap on her right shoulder, and flowed down to her calves. Her pink hair was put in waves, and cascaded freely down to her mid back. She looked beautiful, better then she had in their high school days, if that was possible.

Sakura shrugged. "I love it. But it is kind of hard to have to keep it a secret all the time. It's hard being unknown, you know?"

Ino looked as if she was about to reply, but then she saw Sasuke, and immediately stopped. Sakura followed Ino's line of sight, and instantly scowled when she spotted the Uchiha.

It was like his feet had a mind of their own, because immediately after he exchanged a look with Sakura, he felt himself walking towards the pinkette, and before he fully realized his own actions, he was right in front of her. Not wanting to appear strange, he quickly made a decision to act as if he had wanted to go to her. So he looked at her and said. "Hello Sakura."

"Don't talk to me." Sakura hissed quietly, with her eyes narrowed.

"Now that's not very nice." He smirked. The fact that Sakura despised him enough to voice her dislike in public unnerved him a little, but he wasn't about to let her see that. After all, Uchihas never show when they're hurt.

"What are you going to do about it? Beat me up?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke's eye brow rose at the reference, as he pretended to sound surprised. "You still remember that?"

Her expression changed from one of anger, to disbelief. "Excuse me? Of course I still remember that, you asshole!" Before Sasuke had an opportunity to reply, Sakura turned to Ino. "I think that I've had enough of this reunion. If you don't mind, I think I'll head home now."

Ino was about to argue, but after seeing the anger in Sakura's eyes, quickly decided not to. Instead, the blond nodded and replied, "See you next Saturday."

Sakura nodded and stomped away, making a point not to look at Sasuke while she left. Sasuke felt a strong urge to go after her, but was able to fight it off. It wasn't like him going up to her would help anything.

The rest of the night was dull and very forgettable. In fact, Sasuke only stayed for another half hour and then left to return home. With a sudden burst of free time, Sasuke decided to call Naruto, knowing that Hinata was probably greeted by now. "Hey Sasuke." Naruto greeted. "Was the reunion really that boring without me?"

Sasuke relayed the events that happened after the blonde's departure. "Ouch." Naruto replied when Sasuke finished. "That sucks. I didn't think that she'd still hate you for beating up her boyfriend, who's probably her ex by now. I still don't know why you did that by the way. Anyways I was going to ask Ino if she could get Sakura to review the night for me. She was really good at reviewing things in high school remember? People would always go up to her and ask her how she thought a movie was before they went and saw it. I guess I can't though since she left early."

Sasuke froze. Something in him clicked. Sakura and Ino were talking about her career being unknown, and now Naruto was saying that she was a good reviewer…It was a little stretch. Okay, it was a big stretch, and was likely a dead end, but it was worth checking out. "Sorry Naruto, I have to go." Without waiting for a reply, he hung up the phone and ran over to his vehicle.

In half his normal time, Sasuke was at his office. He raced in and went to the room where the video footage of the businesses was. When there, he grabbed a tape of a business that had got a bad review a month ago, and put it into the player.

There was no sign of her. He played it till the end. Nothing. Then he put in a second tape. For the first half hour there was no sign of pink hair, and Sasuke was almost ready to call his idea foolish, and pretend like he had never thought of it. But then he saw her. Sakura was walking around the store. There was no clip board or writing utensil in her hand, but she did seem to be studying the area more than the average customer.

He put in one more tape. Two hours in, he saw her. She had a brown wig on and blue colour contacts, but he knew that it was her. He played three more tapes. She was wig-less and contact-less for one of them, gone for another, and had another disguise in for the last.

His eyes narrowed in success. A part of him wondered why the search team didn't figure it out already, but for the most part, he didn't really care. He had found The Reviewer. Sure, there was still a little bit of uncertainty, but Sasuke was positive that he was right. There was only one way to make sure of this, however. He picked up his cell phone and called a number. After the person on the other line picked up, he spoke. "This is Sasuke Uchiha. Find Sakura Haruno's address."

Sakura lazily flipped through the channels on her TV. She had changed out of that uncomfortable dress the moment she had returned home. The fabric was far too itchy for her liking, which was why she only wore the things for special occasions. However, Sakura would have preferred to stay at the reunion and wear the uncomfortable dress. Despite being nearly dragged there by Ino, Sakura had to admit that she was having a good time once she got there. She had even got a number from an attractive blond guy.

But her time there was ruined, thanks to Sasuke Uchiha. The bastard had shown up, and without warning, walked over to Sakura like they were old friends or something. Yeah right! And to make things worse, Sasuke acted like she didn't have a reason to be mad at him. She got so mad at him, that she couldn't bear to look at him for another second. So now here she was, at home in her pajamas, watching late night comedy shows.

There was a knock at the door. She looked over at the door, hoping that whoever was there would get the message and leave. However, the knocking persisted. Sakura sighed, and turned off the TV. She walked over to the door, hoping that whoever was there would be quick.

Her slightly annoyed mood turned into anger, when she saw who was at the door. "Sasuke."

"Sakura." He replied lightly. "Or should I say, The Reviewer?"

Oh shit.


	3. The ultimatum

For a few moments, Sakura remained speechless. How was this possible? She had tried so hard to remain anonymous. She was always careful about everything! She never put her name on anything that can be traced on anything. She occasionally wore disguises and she would always wait at least a month until she sent out a review. This should not happen! She had to fight back tears that seemed to desperately want to fall. "How did you find out?" She managed to croak out.

He shrugged and slowly replied, "I'm rich."

Of course that was why. Money made Sasuke able to do practically anything he wished. It allowed him to get off nearly scot free after beating the crap out of Malcolm. He should have gotten expelled for doing that, but in the end, because of his parents' vast wealth, all he really received was a slap on the wrist detention, and the principle was even hesitant to give _that _punishment.

And now it allowed him to discover her biggest secret. A secret that a select few people knew. In fact, she could count off the people that knew on one hand.

What did he even find out her identity for? Well, there was one really likely reason why, but she desperately hoped that that wasn't his motive.

"You haven't reviewed my business yet," He stated. Crap, it was that reason. A part of her wanted to play dumb, pretend that she thought that she had already done so. Or even go as far as to pretend that she didn't even know that he owned a business. But she knew that that would not even somewhat work because for one, you had to be living under a rock to not know about the Uchiha's business, and she was absolutely horrible at lying.

So she decided to instead, point out the obvious. "Obviously."

"So I have decided that you're going to give my company a good review," He continued. "Or I will tell the media your true identity."

Time seemed to stop for the pinkette. Sure, she had predicted that he would attempt to get her to give his company a good review, but she had not predicted that he would go that far to ensure it. Was a positive review from her really so important that he would sacrifice her livelihood to ensure it? Then again, it was her way of life he was sacrificing, not his, so to him, he probably wasn't sacrificing anything.

If she did not comply to this demand, then the anonymity that she worked so hard for would come to an abrupt end. She could see it now; Companies would start bribing or blackmailing her to give them good reviews. And if she didn't give good reviews, they would publicly attack her and she _really _did not want to go through that. She would hate that, she hated feeling threatened. It always made her feel so small, so tiny compared to her aggressors.

This fear was not new. It began when she was first picked on in elementary school for her forehead. It had hurt when people teased and mocked her. And she had always felt powerless to stop it. That's why she had been so eager to tutor Ino in high school. She had heard while walking through the halls that Ino wasn't doing well in a few classes. She knew how high Ino was in the school's popularity ladder, so she had jumped at the chance to help her do better in classes in exchange for a guarantee that she wouldn't be harassed.

Unfortunately, she had never gotten over her phobia, which was the main reason why she had chosen to be anonymous. She knew that if people weren't able to figure out who she was, they wouldn't be able to try and persuade her to give them positive feedback all the time.

She really did not like either option. She did not want the fact that she was also The Reviewer to become known. But at the same time, she did not want to be bullied into giving a good review either. That would be completely dishonest of her, and she would not feel right about submitting that review. She did pride herself on having integrity, after all.

The pinkette began to rack her brain, trying to think of another option. She could only think of one. But, it seemed like a good option. "What if I just don't review your company?"

He seemed to consider that for a moment, and for that moment, Sakura thought that she had possibly persuaded him into choosing a different option. Her hope quickly faded when she saw him shake his head. "It would look suspicious if my company never received a review from you. Besides, a good review from you is much better than no review at all."

"But you don't need a review," She protested. "You are already extremely successful and well off. You don't need to do better."

"True, but here's the thing Sakura, I _want _to do better," He explained to her.

"But-" She racked her brain again, thinking of anything else she could say that could possibly make him decide to stop his ultimatum. "Are you not confident enough in your own business to just risk getting critiqued like everyone else? Do you really think your company will do that badly?"

"No," He swiftly admitted. "But I like guarantees, so I'd like a certainty that my company will get a good review from you."

She sighed and looked down at the ground, feeling very defeated. It was useless. There seemed to be no way for her to convince him to give up his ultimatum. So it looked like she had to pick either of the two options. Which one seemed like a lesser evil? She really didn't like either of them.

Arg, this was too much. She needed time to think about this instead of making a hasty decision. Her gaze traveled back up to meet his. "I need more time." In order to not hear a reply, she hurried back inside of her home and locked the door behind her.


	4. The agreement

**Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a good October. If you're Canadian or in Canada right now, happy Thanksgiving! Just a heads up in case you guys haven't check it out, I redid the chapter before this one. Enjoy :)**

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Sakura slammed the door shut and proceeded to hyperventilate; This could not be happening, it shouldn't be happening.

She already knew that life would not be perfect after she left high school, but she didn't think it would come back to haunt her. At least not like this.

What had she done wrong? Had she gotten sloppy? Gotten so used to people not knowing who she was that she started to slack off?

No, she had always been careful. And that sucked because that meant that she couldn't improve anything, couldn't change anything.

She slumped to the ground, hand on her chest. So how did Sasuke find out? Did he bribe Ino? No, Ino would never do anything like that.

Well, they did go to high school together, maybe that had helped him figure it out. Oh, that would be horrible if that was the reason. There were a lot of people from their high school that were high up in businesses and would probably like to know who she was. If Sasuke had found her out based on their time in high school, it was possible that others could do the same.

Ok, hopefully Sasuke had a different way of finding out.

She sighed as she pressed a shaky hand to the ground to try and lift herself up.

No matter how the Uchiha had found out, all she could really do was attempt to find ways to be more cautious and hope that no one else had discovered her secret.

Somehow, she had found the strength to stand again. Now, what to do about the ultimatum Sasuke had forced on her. Either give a fake good review or have her identity revealed.

For the former, it meant giving up her integrity, at least partially. Yes she would be blackmailed into it, but there would always be a part of her that feels guilty about it.

The latter was not good either. She couldn't even pretend that it would be fine if people found out that she was The Reviewer. Her life would change forever, and not for the better. Every day she would be surrounded by people trying to blackmail and bribe her to give her good reviews. And she didn't even want to think about the responses she would get from big businesses if she gave them a bad review.

Ok, so which one was the lesser of two evils? She might not ever forgive herself if she gave a fake review, but her overall life would become significantly worse if Sasuke told the world her identity. Maybe she should give the fake review. Who knows, maybe his business wasn't so bad. Perhaps her review would have been positive anyways. She doubted that she wouldn't find anything negative about his business, but she could try and ignore the bad things.

She needed a second opinion on this. Perhaps she should call Ino. Yeah, that sounded good.

Before she left to retrieve her phone, the pinkette cautiously walked over to the window that provided the best view of her door and pushed back the blinds that covered it. She felt immense relief when she saw that the Uchiha had left.

Sakura then proceeded to scramble over to her phone and pound in the numbers to Ino's cell phone number. However, when she finished and held the phone up to her ear it was not Ino's voice that she heard on the other side.

"Hello?" The voice sounded like a middle aged man.

Ok, this was weird. "Is this Ino's phone?" She asked hesitantly.

"No, this is Mathew," The voice answered.

Crap, wrong number. "Sorry," She quickly apologized before hanging up.

She tried the number once again, this time making sure that she was pressing the correct buttons. Ino picked up on the second ring. "Hello?" The blond asked.

"Hey," Sakura replied, suddenly finding her voice shaky.

"What's up?" Ino asked. The pinkette heard familiar voices coming from the background; Ino was watching one of their favorite TV dramas.

Sakura took a small breath, and tried to relay her story. But when she tried, all that came out were sobs and she soon found herself crying.

The tone of Ino's voice changed dramatically. "Sakura! What's wrong?"

Once again, she tried to talk properly and explain her situation but to no avail. "Sakura, are you at home?" Ino asked.

Somehow she was able to make a small 'mhmm' sound. "Good, I'll be right over."

Fifteen minutes later, Ino was there pounding on her door. Sakura opened it and was automatically enveloped in a large hug. "Hey sweetie," Ino cooed, before releasing her and shutting the door.

The two walked up to Sakura's living room and sat down on her blue leather sofa. "What's wrong?" Ino asked gently.

After taking a few seconds to calm down, Sakura attempted once again to say what happened. "Sasuke found out that I'm The Reviewer."

"He did what?" Ino exclaimed with wide eyes.

She nodded and relayed what had taken place that night. It took a while; she often had to stop and 'let the waterworks run their course'. Fortunately, Ino was more than understanding as every time Sakura broke down, she encouraged her friend with gentle smiles and kind words.

Ino looked at her with fiery eyes when she was finished. "That bastard! How dare he do something like this!"

Sakura could only nod in response. It was incredibly cruel of him to do something like this to her, to anyone really. As if beating up her boyfriend in high school wasn't enough.

"So," Ino continued, her voice slightly quieter now, "What do you think you're going to choose?"

Sakura sighed, "I'm not really sure."

"I know this is completely your decision, but if you want my input, I'd personally just give him a fake review," Ino told her. "I mean, I know you're really big on honesty, but I think you should make an exception this one time. Just one false one and you'll never have to see him again and won't have to deal with life with other people knowing who you are."

So Ino agreed with what she had been pondering before. Yes, it would probably be best if she wrote the review. It would be so much easier if they were able to convince Sasuke to change his mind and drop this altogether. Was there any chance of this, any at all? Since Ino knew Sasuke better than she did, she relayed this question to her friend.

Ino slowly shook her head. "Unfortunately, if he was that insistent about it before, I doubt he would change his mind now. Even when he was young, he was always taught that the most important things in his life were his family and their business."

Dang it. So that left only one option. "I guess I'm going to write the fake review."

Ino nodded. "Good decision." The girl then shifted slightly, "Is it alright with you if I leave now? I kind of have a date in half an hour."

"Huh? Oh, sure." Sakura replied.

With that, the blond left and Sakura was left alone to think about her decision.

The next day, around the same time as before, Sasuke appeared at her doorstep.

"Come on, you can do this." She told herself as she opened the door.

Wasting no time on formalities, Sasuke asked her, "What have you decided?"

"I decided," Sakura explained, "To give you the review." Sasuke nodded, and looked like he was going to speak again. But before he could do so, she spoke up, "One more thing. I want to go see your company. Just so that the review is accurate."

Sasuke wondered this for a moment, and then nodded. "Do you know where my head office building is?" She nodded.

"Come by my office at three in two days to discuss what you want to put in the review. That should give you enough time to look at the outlets in the city." Without waiting for a response, he took off, leaving her by the door.


	5. Differences in opinion

**Hi everyone. Hope you all had a relaxing Xmas/winter break and are enjoying the new year.**

**I was originally planning to put what happens in this chapter later in the story but decided to change it up a bit. Hope you all enjoy it and please leave a review at the end.  
**

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Sakura sighed as she walked up to the Uchiha Electronics' main office. She had visited some of the company's outlets, and her findings had not been the greatest.

For one thing, the employees did not seem to enjoy their jobs. That was one of the biggest things she looked for. If an employee liked their job, they were more likely to want to be good at it. These workers appeared like they had plastered on fake smiles and were just 'going through the motions'. And some of the people who had the words 'in training' on their name tag looked like they had no idea what they were doing. That was normal, but what was odd to her was that it seemed like, even though they were really new, they were completely alone. The supervisors and managers were on the opposite side of the store, so if they were stuck they had to fend for themselves. Didn't seem like a very good training program.

The layout of the merchandise was horrendous. The assortment was extremely random and, while the people that had shopped there before seemed to know it well enough, new customers had a difficult time finding things. And each outlet she went to had a different layout.

At this point she was wondering how the company was doing as well as it was. Then she remembered that it had really cheap prices and had major celebrities doing its commercials.

How was she going to write this review? When she had agreed to write the critique, she had been hoping that there had been enough good for her to not write about the bad, but that was clearly not the case. Oh, she was going to have to lie a lot, and she was really not ok with that.

Well, might as well try to get this over with. After all, the sooner she did this, the sooner she could move on and get away from Sasuke.

She walked into the office. Her first impression was that it was very high end. They must have had a very good designer design it. All of the furniture appeared new and expensive.

The entrance was very clean, not a trace of dirt or mud anywhere despite it raining the day before. The floor was hardwood and extremely well kept. The front desk was expansive and made of mahogany. The waiting room next to it had white leather couches and small black coffee tables stacked with recent magazines.

The pinkette walked up to the reception area where a girl was seated, eyes focused on a computer screen.

The secretary didn't look up when Sakura was beside the desk. "Hello," Sakura spoke to her.

The girl blinked and jolted a little as she looked up, "Yes?"

"I would like to speak with Mr. Uchiha please," Sakura informed her.

The girl gave her a once over, as if trying to determine if she was worthy of seeing her boss. "Do you have an appointment?" The girl asked.

The pinkette nodded her head. Him saying to be here at three should count as an appointment. "Yes. My name is Sakura Haruno."

The girl shrugged. "I don't remember him mentioning anything about you, but alright." The pinkette couldn't figure out if the girl was trying to be snarky or just stating a fact. The girl lifted up a phone and dialed a number. After a few seconds, she spoke into it, "Hello , a Sakura Haruno is here to see you." A few moments later, the girl hung up the phone. "He says that he'll be done shortly. Please sit down while you wait."

Hopefully whatever he was involved in wouldn't take much longer. Sakura nodded. "Thank you." She walked to one of the couches and sat down while she picked up a fashion magazine.

She didn't mind when he wasn't there five minutes later, she was slightly annoyed when he wasn't there ten minutes later. At the fifteen minute mark she tried to tell herself that he was busy and probably had a good reason for being late. She was up and asking the receptionist at the twenty minute mark, who just told Sakura to wait a little longer. By the time the thirty minute mark came, she was out the door.

He was the one who said three o'clock, and she had planned around that. There were other things that she wanted to get done today. There was a review she wanted to write and another one that she wanted to edit and hand in. If he wasn't willing to honor his commitment then he could track her down on his own time.

Her phone rang as she walked outside. She lifted the device from her pocket and saw that it was Ino. "Hi forehead, how'd it go?" the blonde asked as soon as Sakura answered.

"You know, the meeting could have lasted longer than thirty minutes, and your call would have been interrupting us," Sakura teased.

"Whatever," Ino replied. "So how did it go?"

"It didn't," Sakura said as she stood outside the building. "He didn't show up."

"What? The nerve of that guy!" Ino screeched.

"Yeah," Sakura said while she began to walk away. "But, in a way, I'm almost grateful, even if it was really rude."

"Explain," Ino demanded.

"Well, I went to a few outlets, and I didn't really like what I saw," Sakura explained. "I mean, the employees definitely did not like working there, the stock had no order to it, and come to think of it, I think one of the outlets had a hole in one of the windows."

"That doesn't sound the greatest," Ino commented.

"I know," Sakura moaned. "It sucks, and I really don't want to lie but there's so much I don't like about the outlets."

"Like what?" Sasuke's voice asked.

Sakura froze. Oh crap he was right behind her. He just had to come and hear the worst part of the conversation. "I'll call you back later," she told Ino quickly and hung up the phone immediately after. "Hey Sasuke," she said as she offered an extremely forced smile and put away her phone.

He didn't waste time on pleasantries. "What do you think is wrong with my company?"

"Y-you want to know what I think is wrong with it?" She asked while she attempted to compose herself. Was he getting defensive about his business? Or did he genuinely want to know what she thought? She could try lying and say that it was fine, but he'd obviously know that she wasn't telling the truth. What if she just told half of it instead? Would he be able to tell?

As if reading her mind, he announced, "Tell me every issue you have with it."

Sakura sighed. If he really wanted to know what she thought was wrong with his company she might as well let him know. She explained to him what she noticed.

He looked a little offended and angry. She inwardly cringed, great. When he still didn't answer, she reminded him, "If you didn't want to know what I thought, you shouldn't have asked."

His glower worsened. She just kept digging herself deeper and deeper. In an attempt to make the situation better, she added, "Everything else seemed good though."

That didn't seem to help. However, he mumbled to her," Thank you for letting me know." Just when she thought he was fine, he added with a glare, "Why didn't you wait for me?"

It was her turn to glare. "I waited half an hour for you," She spat back at him.

Not missing a beat, he countered, "I was busy."

"And I'm not?" She asked bitterly as her eyes narrowed at him. "Meeting you was not the only thing I wanted to get done today."

"I was in a meeting," he explained as he took a step towards her. "A meeting I had to cut short so that I could meet with you."

Was that supposed to make her feel sorry for him? She continued to glare at him. "If you wanted to change the time you should have contacted me."

"I don't know you're phone number."

"And you're not getting it," Sakura informed him as she unconsciously took a step towards him. "You already know where I live anyways. Which is very creepy by the way."

"This meeting was last minute, I wouldn't have had time to go to your house," he said, as if he was scolding a child.

"At the very least, you could have told your secretary to tell me that you were in a meeting that would take a while," she insisted.

He didn't respond, so she smirked at him. Ha I win!

Sasuke appeared like he was going to move closer to her, but stopped when he looked down and realized how close they actually were. Sakura looked down and leaped back, a blush forming on her cheeks as she did so. Holy goodness they were nearly touching! How did neither of them notice?

"Come back to my office when you're finished the review," he told her, clearly as frazzled and surprised as she was. Then he began to make a retreat. "Bring it with you."

She didn't really like the idea of showing it to him, but in context of their deal it did make sense. However, she did not want to sit the waiting room for hours. "How will I reach you?" She called out, which brought him to a halt. "I'm not going to wait for hours on end by the front desk."

He gave a sound of annoyance as he turned around and forcefully took a small business card out of his pocket and handed it to her. "That has my business number on it," he told her. "Call me when you're done."

With that, he took off into his office, leaving her to stand alone on the sidewalk.


	6. Unexpected offer

**Hey everyone, I apologize for once again taking forever to update. I had writer's block the entire summer and since then I've been busy with school work. Anywho, here's the new chapter. Enjoy **

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Sakura jumped when she heard her doorbell ring. She had been focusing on editing a review and the loud sound had startled her. She peered down and gave a sigh of relief that she had not spilt any of her coffee on her papers. The girl had not even been holding her cup, but she had in the past gotten startled and hit her cup by accident. Everything on her desk had been soaked in coffee. It was a very frustrating experience.

Who could that be? She wasn't expecting anyone. Maybe Ino had come over without texting her about it beforehand. It wouldn't be the first time.

The doorbell rang again. Okay, it was either Ino or someone as impatient as Ino.

The pinkette left her desk and began the walk towards her front door. Her office room was a fair distance from the front entrance, so it took a couple of minutes to get there. In those few minutes, the bell rang three more times.

She sighed when she turned the knob of the door, getting ready to remind Ino about patience.

The words were almost at her mouth when she opened the door and saw Sasuke.

What the heck was he doing here? Did he want his review already? She had been so busy that she had barely started her outline for it.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" She asked him. "I'm not done your review yet so-"

"I'm not here for that," He replied, his eyes set down on the ground. He almost looked…nervous. What could ___he _be nervous about?

"Look," He continued as he ran a hand through his hair. "There's this…dinner that I have to go to on Saturday. It's a charity event that I have to go to and…"

"And?" She repeated. What was he getting at?

He looked like he'd rather be giving birth than saying this. "The girl I usually go to these things with is out of town so I need someone to go with me."

This had better not be going where she thought it was going. "So you want…me to go with you?"

He nodded.

She froze for a moment. He wanted to go to a formal event…with her…Was he insane? "No!" She exclaimed. "Why would you even think that I would say yes to that?"

He glared at her. "Fine," He grumbled before he stalked off to his vehicle.

Sakura found herself glaring at the spot where he had stood even after he drove off. What on earth would possess him to ask her that? What made him think that she would even consider saying yes?

Wait a minute. What if he was going to threaten her with her review? Maybe he was planning on making her give it sooner if she declined.

But that couldn't be it, because he didn't mention anything like that to her. He would have told her if he was intending to blackmail her.

Why, then, did he even suspect that she would agree to his offer? Given their history, he should have known a lot better.

She shut the door and walked back to her office, now feeling bad and baffled.

Once she sat down, she attempted to return to her work, only to find herself unable to do so. Her mind kept drifting back to Sasuke and his odd request.

After fifteen minutes of unproductivity, she was about to call it quits for a while when she heard a knock on the door. It was actually more akin to a banging. She got up and walked once again towards her front door.

Did Sasuke want to come back and ask her again? He didn't seem like the type to pound on her door though. But who else could it be?

She sighed as she opened the door. "I already told you Sasuke, my answer is-" She stopped when she saw that the identity of the person at the door was not Sasuke. It was Naruto, a guy who had attended the same high school as her.

"Hello Naruto," She said.

"Hey Sakura," He said with the trademark grin that was always on his face during high school. "Can I come in?" He asked her.

She nodded and moved aside to allow him to walk through. She shut the door once he was inside. What was he doing here? Not that she wasn't happy to see him, albeit she would be happier if a certain hot mess didn't decide to show up at her door earlier. But considering the fact that the two had not spoken since high school and hadn't attempted to contact each other, seeming him now was rather odd.

"How have you been since high school?" She asked. She remembered that he wanted to be the mayor of the city. It was hard not to when he had spent much of his teenage life telling it to anyone who had ears.

"Great," He told her. "I'm finishing up my master's degree."

"You're doing a masters?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yep! In politics." He looked down and scratched his head. "Umm, look Sakura, the reason I came here was because I want you to go to that dinner with Sasuke."

…What? "Excuse me?" She asked in disbelief.

"I'm the one who convinced him to go and ask you," He explained. "He told me what you said and I came to make you change your mind."

She began to see red. "You never even tried to talk to me since we graduated, and now you come and see me just to convince me to go to a stupid dinner thing with a guy I hate. Get out."

He held his hands up in front of him. "I'm really sorry about not trying to get in touch with you Sakura, honest. But I've had no way of reaching you. I mean, Ino never gave away anything about where you live or what your phone number was even when I asked for it. The only reason I know where to go now is because Sasuke told me!"

"He told you my address?" She asked him incredulously. To be honest, she hadn't really questioned how Naruto had found out about where she lived. And with Ino agreeing to not tell anyone, it was really the only way that made sense. But still, the fact that Sasuke told him where she lived did not sit well with her at all. Sure, she doubted that the blond would abuse the information, but Sasuke shouldn't have told him. And if he was willing to tell Naruto, there's no telling just who else he'd give it away to.

"Well, yeah. But please don't get mad at him! I had to pretty much force it out of the guy," He said as he waved his arms around. "Look, he told me that you said no. I would really like it if you reconsidered."

"No," She grew less and less fond of this meeting by the second.

"Please Sakura! I know you're still mad at him-"

"For a good reason." She added.

"For something that happened in high school," He retorted. "And for something that you're taking way too far."

"Excuse me?"

"Yes, he beat up your boyfriend and that was wrong, but that could have just been between Sasuke and your boyfriend, with nothing to do with you. Besides, I know from Ino that you don't even keep in contact with Malcolm anymore," He reasoned.

Her frown deepened. "Just because I don't talk with him anymore doesn't mean that what Sasuke did to him was okay."

"Like I said, I'm not saying that what Sasuke did was okay." Naruto insisted. "But I think that you should try to forgive the guy. It's been years since then."

"It has," She agreed. "But-" She caught herself before she said 'he's blackmailing me'. To her knowledge, Naruto didn't know that she was The Reviewer. And she wasn't about to tell him if he didn't. "It's not something I can just get over," She quickly stated.

"Please just give him a chance," He begged. "Just go with him for one night, and if it doesn't work out, you don't ever have to talk to him again."

If only it was that easy. But once again, she couldn't tell him that. Was there anything else she could give as an argument for why she didn't want to go Sasuke without mentioning that he was threatening her? "Well," She explained. "I just don't like the guy. And believe it or not, that does qualify as a reason for not wanting to go out with him."

"Please Sakura!" He continued. Jeez, did this guy ever give up? "Please just give him a chance. He kind of needs a date for this. If you said no, he'd be like the only person there going solo."

"Does he not know any other girls?" She asked with an eyebrow raised. Surely he must talk to at least one person of the opposite gender, aside from the one he usually goes with.

Naruto shook his head. "The only other girls he talks to are ones that are already with someone else. Please!"

She sighed; the blond seemed unwilling to let the topic go. Well, was there anything that she could get out of this? Maybe she could use this as a way to make Sasuke owe her a favor. That could potentially be useful in the future, say if she needed more time for the review or something of the sort. And she had to admit, that as much as she detested the Uchiha, he wasn't hard on the eyes. So she could spend the night staring at him and pretending that he had a different personality. "I want to talk to him again before I make any decisions," She stated.

The blond lit up. "Great! I'll get him to come over right away. See you later Sakura, you won't regret this I promise."

With that, Naruto made his exit and Sakura stared at the door, hoping that she didn't just make a big mistake.


End file.
